Paper feeding apparatus for use in printing machine

ABSTRACT

A paper feeding apparatus for use in a printing machine in which the sheets of paper are fed into the printing machine one after the other with the use of a sucker device which is continuously rotated along a modified cycloid curve by means of a cam mechanism including a cam and follower in cooperation with airsuction systems, whereby the disadvantages inherent in a conventional paper feeding apparatus having a reciprocating sucker is substantially eliminated.

[ Aug. 27, 1974 nited States Patent [191 Shimizu PAPER FEEDING APPARATUS FOR USE IN PRINTING MACHINE 3 386,558 6/1968 Benatar 27l/D1G. 1 X 3,575,409 4/1971 271/95 [75] Inventor:

Shigeru Shimizu, Osaka, Japan v [73] Assignee: Hamada Printing Press Primary Examner EVon Blunk Co. Ltd osakarshi, gs? Assistant ExaminerBruce H. Stoner, Jr. Mar. 19, 1973 Appl. No.: 342,409

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Craig& Antonelli [22] Filed:

ABSTRACT A'paper feeding apparatus for use in a printing machine in which the sheets of paper are fed into the printing machine one after the other with the use of a [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 14, 1972 Japan........................... 47-37527 271/91 271/98 sucker device which is continuously rotated along a [51] Int; B65I'l 3/08 difi d l i Curve by means a Cam mechanism [58] Field of 271/90, 91, 93-96, including a Cam and follower i cooperation i 271/98, 104, 106408 BIG 1 suction systems, whereby the disadvantages inherent in a conventional paper feeding apparatus having a rel References Cited ciprocating sucker is substantially eliminated.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,714,006 Layden 271/95 9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMIBZTIW avs'amsma sum 3 or 5 PAPER FEEDING APPARATUS FOR USE IN PRINTING MACHINE The present invention relates to a paper feeding apparatus for use in a printing machine and, more particularly, to an apparatus for separating and forwarding a sheet from the top that of the stacked sheets which comprises one or more sucker devices which are rotated and during the part of the rotation pick up and feed successive sheets of paper to rolls of a printing press as well as means for blowing air under the sheets as they are fed to the rolls.

In the conventional method for feeding sheets to a printing press a sucker picks up a sheet carries it forward to the rolls or transfers it to a second sucker which carries it forward to the rolls while at the same time air is usually blown under the sheet to keep it in a horizontal position until it is fed to the rollers. How ever the conventional art has considerable disadvantages since the sucker which forwards sheets in this manner must return at once to the original pick up position on the same path after each sheet has been taken into the rolls. In such a device there are not only mechanical difficulties, but, more important, the speed at which such a mechanism can feed sheets to the rolls is very limited because of the time required for the reciprocating motion of the sucker. It is possible to increase the speed of feeding the sheets by providing more than one sucker, but in this case the mechanism becomes very complicated and in practice usually only one forwarding sucker is employed because of problems of construction and maintenance. There is therefore a need for a sheet separating and forwarding device for a printing press which is mechanically simple and whose feeding speed can be increased without increasing mechanical, construction or maintenance problems.

It is the main object of the present invention to answer this need by providing an automatic paper feeding apparatus for separating and forwarding a sheet in which a sucker is connected by a shaft or other means to a point of a driving follower which is guided by a cam so that the motion of the sucker is not reciprocal but follows the modified sine curve formed by a point of the driving follower, therefore it is possible to increase the speed of feeding sheets without any extra mechanical difficulty, either by increasing the speed of rotation of the driving follower or by providing more than one driving follower and sucker or more than one sucker provided on the different points of a driving follower, so that feeding of sheets to the rolls is smooth and if necessary can be made continuous.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus as described above in which sheets are fed in succession to rolls smoothly by the sucker rotating by means of a cam mechanism including a cam and follower in cooperation with air-suction systems and so that they pass through the shortest distance along an approximately straight line between the pickup and the rolls, resulting in that feeding operation is effective and economical.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus as described above in which the various parts of the device are so arranged that a sucker picks up a sheet when the driving follower to which the sucker is attached rides on a certain position of the cam, carries it forward to the rolls and releases it when the driving follower comes on the other position of the cam while the sucker is always placed to face to the direct direction of the sheet and moves fast as it approaches the sheet to be picked up, slower while it is transporting the sheet, and then fast again.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus as described above, in which the operation of suckers and means for blowing air such as a blow pipe are cooperatively connected so that the blow pipe is moved forward when a sucker picks up a sheet and stays in a forward position while the sheet being transported to the rolls and moves back when the sucker releases the sheet.

It is another further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus described above in which a compressor is provided for the operation of the air blower and suckers, the compressor being connected on its inlet side with either one of two ports, one leading to a sucker and the other to the atmosphere, in accordance with the position of the driving follower in such a manner that when a sucker is in the pick up and transporting positions the compressor is connected with the port leading to the sucker and at other times to open the port leading to the atmosphere.

According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention at least two pairs of revolving suckers are provided for feeding paper 'to a printing press, each sucker being connected by means of a shaft to one position of a follower driven with an auxiliary shaft and a main shaft driven by any conventional means and revolving around a cam. Considering only one sucker the method of connection is that a follower is rotatably mounted on the auxiliary shaft eccentrically secured on the main shaft, so that the mounting portion revolves around the main shaft in a circular path together with the auxiliary shaft while the outer end provided with the sucker also revolves but follows the orbit of a cam consisting of at least more than three cycloid curves, the cam being formed the orbit either on the outer periphery or the inner periphery. The sucker is shaped in the form of a T, the suction pad being at the lower end of the long section, and it is pivotally mounted at the center of the cross section on the end of the shaft fixedly mounted on the follower. In this arrangement, as the main shaft rotates it eccentrically rotates the auxiliary shaft which causes the follower to revolve around the main shaft while rotating around the auxiliary shaft so as to follow the orbit of the cam. The sucker mounted at the outer end of the follower follows the same path as this end during the revolution of the auxiliary shaft around the main shaft, i.e., it follows a series of cycloid curves of the orbit of the cam, while the suction force in the sucker for picking up and transporting a sheet of paper is provided during the revolution of the followers from the beginning of the cycloid curves to the terminal by means of passages provided through the follower, shaft and sucker. As a sucker picks up a sheet of paper it is in a vertical downward position, but as ittransports a sheet of paper to the rolls of the printing press it would normally moves out of this vertical position; this displacement is prevented, however, by provision of a roller-guide cam for the roller mounter on the outer end of the cross section of the T formed by the sucker; the roller rides on the rollerguide cam which is so shaped that the sucker is held vertical for a constant distance within the range corresponding to a cycloid curve produced by the cam and follower mechanism while it is transporting a sheet of paper by the roller riding on the roller guide.

A further feature of this embodiment is that the blowpipe for blowing air to maintain sheets being transported in a horizontal position is caused to move backwards and forwards relative to the stack of paper through the action of a lever which is in contact with a large cam which has a large diameter and a small diameter and which is fixedly mounted on the main shaft, the cam being so positioned as to cause the blow pipe move forwards when a pair of suckers is picking up and transporting a sheet of paper and move backwards at other times.

Accordingly, the apparatus of the present invention offers outstanding advantages by the use of a rotating sucker since its operation is very efficient, and its construction is simpler than that of conventional devices. It also overcomes the disadvantages inherent in conventional devices having a sucker of reciprocating motions, that is to say the problems of increasing speed of operation. In conventional devices speed of operation is very low, and if it is wished to increase the speed the mechanism and maintenance of the machine become much more complicated whereas in the apparatus of the present invention speed can be increased as much as required, without any extra complications.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view, partially broken away and showing cross-sections taken along the line II in FIG. 2, of an essential portion of a paper feeding arrangement and its associated parts according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view through IIIl of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view through lll-lll of FIG. 2.

Before the description of the present invention proceeds, it is to be noted that, for the sake of brevity, like parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the several views of the accompanying drawings. It is also to be noted that the concept of the present invention as well as applying to feeding apparatus herein disclosed as preferred embodiment can be applied in any field of industry other than the newspaper printing machine, for example, in connection with a sheet of metallic foil, synthetic film, cloth or other like sheet material if such sheets are stacked or piled as herein disclosed.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a pair of side boards 11, an end board 3 and a pair of .cross bars 2 form a housing for accommodating the sucker driving mechanism side boards 1 and 1 being parallel to one another and firmly attached to the end board 3 at one end to form an approximately U-shaped unit and the cross bars 2 and 2 being fixedly mounted between the side boards 1 and 1 across the open end of the U-shaped unit. This housing is provided to the body of the printing machine in such a manner that the sucker provided in the housing as will be mentioned later can be faced to sheets stacked on a table 4 so as to feed the sheet one after the other to rollers 7 and 7' for feeding the sheet 5 to the printing press. The. sheets 5 of paper are stacked in piles on the table 4 which is raised by any conventional means to ensure that a top sheet a is always at the same distance from the housing described above, and more detachably engaged at their one end with a set of pivoting stoppers 6 of conventional design to ensure that the sheets of paper are always kept properly stacked. Near the left side of the stacked sheets 5 there are provided the pair of rollers 7 and 7' to which the sheet is fed and which rotate constantly to forward the sheet to the printing position of the printing press by any conventional means.

A main driving shaft 8 is horizontally journaled in bearings 9a provided in one side board l, and is connected at one end to any conventional driving means such as a motor and at the other end to a cam plate 9 which acts on a roller 44 to control the shifting movement of a blow pipe 40 in'a manner that will be described later. As the main shaft 8 is driven at the same speed of the printing cylinder of the printing press, it is preferably operate to feed the sheets of paper in accordance with the printing speed of the printing press. In addition, the stoppers 7 can be shifted to detach from the sheets by the conventional driving mechanism (not shown) so as to easily pass'the sheet over the stoppers when the sheet forwards by suckers 30 as will be mentioned later. An intermediate shaft 10 having an elliptical cross section is rigidly attached at one end to the cam plate 9 below but not coaxially attached with the main shaft 8 while at its other end an auxiliary shaft 11 is rigidly but not coaxially attached, the axis of the shaft 1 1 being further removed than that of the shaft 10 from the axis of the main shaft 8; The shaft 11 is horizontally mounted in journal 11a around which is rotatably mounted an approximately elliptical cam-follower 12 which is thus constrained to move with but is free to rotate around the shaft 1 1. The shape of the cam-follower 12 is round at its both ends like an ellipse but part of the sides 55 and 55' parallel to the longer axis are cut out to provide passages for air so that the cam-follower 12 is made narrower around the center. Shafts 8, 10, ii and cam 9 are preferably constructed as one unit while the cam-follower 12 is rotatable around the shaft 11 through the journal 11a, and when the main driving shaft 8 rotates the cam 9 is rotated, the intermediate shaft 10 turns around the axis of the shaft 8 and the auxiliary shaft llrevolves in a circular path around the axis of the shaft 8 at the same time carrying with it the cam-follower 12, which, however, is free to rotate. A pair of discs 13 and 13 are fixedly attached at their center on both surfaces of the cam-follower 12 with which they revolve, and have sufficient sizes of diameter to substantially cover the both surfaces of the camfollower l2 and a plane plate 14 which is slidably, hermetically inserted between the air of discs. The plane plate 14 is fixedly attached at one end to the end board 3 by bolts 16 and extends into the body of the housing perpendicular to the shaft 11, and which contains the cut-out cam portion 15 which is formed as a hole having a shape of an approximately equilateral triangle, the apices being rounded and the shape of the sides being a concave sine curve, and the center of the triangle being in line with the axis of the main shaft 8. The approximately elliptical cam-follower 12 on the shaft 11 is fitted into the cam portion 15 of the plane plate 14, and the shape and proportion of the cam-follower 12 and the cam portion 15 are such that the cam-follower 12 can rotate freely in the cam portion 15 and so that during such rotation both ends of the cam-follower 12 are always in sliding, hermetic contact with the inner periphery of the cam portion without obstruction, the cam portion 15 being closed hermetically by the pair of the discs 13 and 13' at both sides so as to provide a room surrounded by the cam portion 15 and the discs 13 and 13' which is divided into two parts, that is, a suction part and an open part by the cam-follower 12 at the counter. Although the discs 13 and 13 are approximately large enough to cover the cam portion 15 of the plane plate 14 fixed on the end board 3, since they rotate with the cam-follower 12, which they are rigidly attached, they do not always cover entirely the cam portion 15 during the rotation so that the apex of the cam portion 15 which is apart from the auxiliary shaft 11 is exposed to the outside. For effective suction action of the compressor or other means 49 for inducing suction of air from the suction part of the cam portion 15 the passage for air through a passage 50 connected to the compressor and the suction part of the cam portion 15 must not open to the atmosphere, and, therefore, there are provided a pair of extra cover plates 24 and 24 each positioned on the same plane to the corresponding disc 13 to form an extension part thereof, one side of which forms an arc which has the same radius as the disc 13 and which is kept constantly in sliding, hermetic contact with the outer periphery of the disc 13 by means of a lever which is fixedly attached at one end of the extra cover plate 24 by a pin and rotatably mounted at the other end, of which a boss 21 is provided, to a shaft 17 fixed to the plane plate 14 by a screw 22, there being a winding spring 23 mounted between a plate 19 fixed to the shaft 17 by a pin 18 and the boss 21 of the lever 20 which constantly acts to push the cover plate 24 against the corresponding disc 13 by its resilient force so that the suction part of the cam portion 15 connected to the passage 50 for air is always covered, either by the discs 13 or the discs 13 and the cover plates 24. In other words, as shown in FIG. 3, the apex of the cam portion 15 connected to the air passage 50 is always hermetically sealed by the cover plate 24, while the apices positioned at the righthand corner and the upper corner of the cam portion 15 are alternatively opened to the outside by rotation of the discs 13 around the main shaft 8. There are provided a pair of travelling shafts 26 and 26' each shaft fixedly mounted at each end of the cam-follower 12 and projecting beyond both sides of the cam-follower 12 and of the discs 13 and 13 through which it passes, and each projecting portion having rotatably mounted a sucker 30, in other words, there are two pair of suckers 30, 30 and 30', 30, one pair at both ends of the each travelling shaft 26 or 26'. Each sucker is approximately T-shaped and rotatably mounted onto the end of shaft as its center crossed over the arm section to the leg section of the T, there being a suction pad 30d at the bottom of the leg section and each sucker having attached at one end of the arm section one end of a spring 33, the other end of which is attached to a pin 32 mounted on the disc 13, so that although each sucker is rotatably mounted on the shaft it does not rotate freely but is held elastically in a fixed position reIative to the disc 13 so as to put the suction pad 30d outside to face to the stacked sheets. In each pair of suckers the sucker on one side of the cam-follower l2 and discs 13 has a roller 34 attached to its arm section at the end opposite to the end to which a spring 33 is attached, while the sucker on the opposite side of the cam-follower 12 and discs 13 has a roller 35 attached at approximately the middle portion of its leg section of the T formed by the sucker. The purpose of the rollers 34, 35 is to guide the suckers, in a manner that will be described below, by riding, respectively, on a rollerguide cam 45 which is fixed through a plate 46 to the side board 1, and a roller-guide cam 47 which is fixed to the cross bar 2. Within the plane plate 14 there are provided two passages 50 and 51 for air leading from the inside of the cam portion 15 to the outside. On passage 50 is connected between the suction part of the cam portion 15 and an outlet 49 connected with a compressor, or any other conventional means (not shown) for inducing suction of air through the passage 50, while the other passage 51 leads from the open part of the cam portion 15 to the atmosphere. There is also a passage 53 for air in the body of each sucker 30 opening at one end at the suctionpad 30d and the other end being in permanent connection thorugh passage 52 for .air in the shaft 26 with a passage 54 for air in the camfollower 12 which leads through the air passage 55 into the inside of the cam portion 15. Not only the passages 50 and 51 for air are positioned on different sidesof the room in the cam portion 15 but also the pasages 54 and 54 for air at each end of the cam-follower 12 open at different edges of the cam-follower 12 in different sides of the room, in this embodiment at the leading edge of the cam-follower 12 as it rotates, so that, since the both ends of the cam-follower. 12 are always in contact with the insides of the cam portion 15 and the room of the cam portion 15 is effectively divided into two parts by the cam-follower 12, one of which the suction part is always hermetically covered by the discs or the discs and the cover plate. When the passage 54 for air at one end of the cam-follower 12 is in connection with the passage 50 for air in the suction part of the room the passage 54 at the other end of the cam-follower 12 is in connection with the passage 51 for air in the open part of the room, in other words, when the pair of suckers 30 and 30 at one end of the cam-follower 12 which are substantially faced to the stacked sheets are in connection with the suction means 49 the pair of suckers 30 and 30 at the other end of the cam-follower 12 which are apart from the stacked sheets are in connec tion with the atmosphere. In addition, there is a blow pipe 40 held in a holder 42 which is fixedly mounted by a pin 39 on a shaft 38 of which both ends are held by pins 39' and 39' in a pair of levers 36 and 36 each having a pin 37 which is rotatably mounted in the side board so as to be able to rotate the blow pipe 40 around axes of pins 37 and 37 with levens 36 and 36, one of which has a extension portion 43 having a roller 44 which is always in contact with the cam plate 9 fixedly attached to the main shaft 8 by the rotation force produced by the weight of the blow pipe 40, one end of which the opening is connected with a means (not shown) for blowing air such as a blower while the other end of which the opening 41 having a board section is position to face to the upper right hand corner of the stacked sheets at the back of the sucker 30,- so that when the roller 44 is in contact with the lobe of the cam plate 9, the opening 41 of the blow pipe 40 is in the position away from the stacked sheets as shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 and, when it is in contact withthe small radius portion of the cam plate 9, the opening 41 of the blow pipe 40 is in the position near to the stacked sheets as shown by the dotted line.

The operation of the paper feeding apparatus of the construction as hereinbefore fully described will be mentioned hereinafter. When the printing machine is operated together with the motor for driving the main driving shaft 8, the main shaft 8 is driven in an anticlockwise direction as shown in FIG. 1, for each rotation the cam plate 9 rotates once around its axis and in an anticlockwise direction, the intermediate shaft 10 turns once around the line of the axis of the main shaft 8 and in an anticlockwise direction, the auxiliary shaft 11 revolves once following the periphery of a circle centred on the axis of the main shaft 8 and in an anticlockwise direction, while the cam-follower 12, which is rotated on the shaft 11, because of the contact of its both ends with the inside periphery of the cam portion in the fixed plane plate 14, being carried round with the shaft 11 is constrained to rotate in a clockwise direction inside the cam portion 15, completing such one rotation for each rotation of the machine shaft 8. Then discs 13 fixedly attached to the both sides of the camfollower 12, the shafts 26 mounted in the both ends of the cam-follower 12, and the suckers 30 mounted on the shaft 26 also turn once in a clockwise direction for each anticlockwise rotation of the machine shaft 8, the path followed by the shaft 26 and the suckers 30 mounted on the both end of the cam-follower 12 being a series of concave curves, that is, a triangular cycloid orbit T having apices a, B, 'y, as shown in FIG. 1 with an ideal line along the inside of the cam portion 15. The covers 24, the curved portions of which are constantly held by the lever in contact with the discs 13 move toward or away from the center of the cam portion 15 according to the movement of the discs 13, so that the part of the cam portion 15 in connection with the passage for air is always covered. Since the ends of the cam-follower 12 are constantly in contact with the periphery of the cam portion 15, the cam portion is always divided into two parts, i.e., the suction part and the open part, the suction part being in connection with the passage for air 50 and passages of suckers and 30 which are substantially faced to the stacked sheets, and the open part with the passage for air 51 and passages of suckers 30' and 30' which are apart from the stacked sheets.

Considering now one pair of suckers 30 mounted at one end of the cam-follower 12 through the pair of two suckers are rotated around the main shaft 8 at the same time by the cam-follower 12, as the pair of suckers 30 is carried from the apex marked in FIG. 1 of the triangle cycloid orbit T formed along the cam portion 15 with a constant interval between the triangle cycloid orbit T and the cam portion 15 towards the apex marked a at first there is no contact of the roller-guide cam 47 with the roller on one sucker of the pair or of the roller-guide cam with the roller 34 on the other sucker, so the position of the suckers relative to the discs 13 depends only on the tensile force of the springs 33 attached to the discs 13 and the suckers 30. However, when the suckers 30 come near the apex q the roller 35 on one sucker rides on the cam 47 so that, both suckers 30 mounted on the same shaft 26 are constrained to move to a vertical position in opposition to the force of the springs 33 by riding on the cam 47, and when the suckers continue and move towards the apex marked ,8 the roller 34 on the other sucker rides on the cam 45, so that in this case too the suckers 30 are held vertical in a similar manner. Therefore, at the suckers 30 rotate, as they pass from a point before the apex a to a point near the apex ,8 they are held vertical, and thus the opening of the suction pads 30d at the ends of the suckers 30 are held horizontal during the time they must pick up and transport a sheet of paper to the printing press rolls 7. When the suckers pass from the apex B to the apex 'y they are held only by the springs 33 at its free position disregarding the cams 47 and 45. When one end of the cam 12 is at the apex a as shown with a real line in FIG. 3 the passage for air 54 of the suckers 30 is in connection, through the suction part of the cam portion 15, with the passage for air 50 of the plane plate 14 associated with the suction means and continues to be in connection with the passage for air 50 until the end of the cam-follower 12 reached a position on the periphery of the cam portion 15 between the passage for air 50 and the apex 7, while during this time the passage for air 54' at the other end of the camfollower 12 is similarly in connection with the passage for air 51 of the plane plate 14 opened to the atmosphere. In other words, during the movement of one end of the cam-follower 12 from a point near the apex at to a point near the apex B, since the cam portion 15 is always divided into two parts of the suction part and open part by the cam-follower l2 and the suction part in connection with the passage for air 50, which is in connection with the suction means, is always covered by the discs 13 and the cover plates 24 and is in connection with the passage for air 54 at one end of the cam-follower 12 which is in connection with a passage for air 53 in the body of the suckers 30, during this time the suckers 30 at one end of the cam are effectively in connection with the suction means 49 which thus provide the suckers 30 with suction force for picking up and transporting a sheet of paper, while the suckers 30 at the other end of the cam-follower 12 do not operate since they are in connection with the passage for air 51 through the open part, which is in connection with the atmosphere. While the cam plate 9 rotates together with the main shaft 8 it pushes against the roller 44 mounted at the end of the one lever 36 causing that end of the lever to move toward or away from the center of the cam portion 15, and the lever 36 being pivoted on the pin 37 of the side board and connected to the holder 42 at its other end through the shaft 38 causes the holder 42 and the blow pipe 40 to move in a similar manner and the end opening 41 of the blow pipe 40 to move toward or away from the stack of paper 5. Air is blown constantly through the opening of the blow pipe towards the stack of paper 5 during the movement of one end of the cam 12 from the point near the apex at to the point near the apex B.

Thus when each pair of suckers 30 of 30' comes into a position d for picking up and transporting a sheet of paper the rollers 34 and 35 attached to the suckers cause the suction pad of each sucker to be held horizontal with respect to the sheet of paper while suction force is provided to the suckers, 'whereby the top sheet aof the sheets of paper is lifted up by its right edge as shown with the dotted line b, and the blow pipe 40 goes down with the lever 36 to the position shown by the dotted lines 40' and blows out air from the opening thereof under the top sheet b sucked by the sucker 30 shown by the dotted line e, resulting in that the left edge of the top sheet b floated by the air easily passes over the stopper 6 and the top sheet b is taken to the left with the sucker 30. In addition, the stopper 6 can be shifted to detach from the sheets by the conventional driving mechanism (not shown) so as to permit the sheet to easily pass over the stopper when the sheet is brought forward by the sucker 30. When the sucker 30 goes further to the position shown by the dotted line f, the passage for air 54 of the cam 12 connected with the sucker 30 moves away from the passage for air 50 of the plane plate 14 and lines up with a opening of the cam portion 15 near the apex 7 which does not covered by the disc 13 and exposed to the atmosphere so that air flows in from outside to and cause the sucker 30 to lose the suction force; thus, the sheet held to the suction pad 30d of the sucker 30 is released. At this time, as the left edge of the sheet c gets to the contact portion of the feed rolls 7 and 7', the sheet c which has been released from the sucker 30 is fed to the printing mechanism through the feed rolls 7 and 7'. After the roller 34 moves further on the cam 45 and the sucker 30 shifts in the vertical position from the position d to the position shown by the dotted line f, when the roller 34 gets out of the cam 45, the sucker 30 is quickly turned upward by the spring 33 to come back to its free position as shown by the other sucker 30'. At this time, the roller 44 of the lever 36 rides on the lobe of the cam plate 9 and raises the blow-pipe up to the position shown by the solid line, on which the air blowing operation of the blow pipe is stopped by the conventional control means in a known manner while the sucker 30 comes to the position shown by the sucker 30 so as to repeat the above mentioned feed operation. Thus, each suction pad of suckers is continuously circulated around the main shaft 8 on the path in connection with the triangle cycloid orbit T.

Accordingly, the paper feeding apparatus of the present invention is provided with a plurality of suckers rotating around the main shaft at half of the speed of the main gear 8 in one direction in a row with a constant interval between each other so as to operate for separating and forwarding the top sheet of the stacked sheets one after the other in succession, whereby the feeding operation can be carried out accurately and continuously at high speed even when the suckers are rotating at relatively slow speed. Also, the blowing operation of the blow pipe 40 can be associated with the suction operation of the sucker as well as the shifting operating of the stopper for obtaining smoothly the forward movement of the sheet. In any way, the present invention is not to be limited by the embodiment, but such changes and modifications should be construed as included within the scope thereof unless otherwise departing therefrom.

What I claim is: r

1. An automatic paper feeding apparatus for use in a printing machine, comprisingza housing, a main shaft disposed in said housing, an auxiliary shaft disposed in said housing operatively connected to said main shaft, a means for driving said main shaft, a plurality of suckers operatively connected to said main shaft disposed equidistantly from said auxiliary shaft and at a predetennined distance from each other, suction means connected with a respective sucker for sucking air therefrom, and means for driving said suckers including a first cam means fixedly mounted in said housing concentric to said main shaft, said first cam including a plurality of cam surface portions each of which approximates a cycloid curve, a follower rotatably mounted on said auxiliary shaft and cooperating with said cam surface portions, means for eccentrically securing said follower on said main shaft, said follower being revolved around said main shaft while rotating around said auxil iary shaft in one direction under the guidance of said approximately cycloid curved cam surface portions to cause a cycloid movement of said follower, means for operatively connecting said follower with said suckers, a second cam means for guiding the movement of said suckers, each of said suckers being provided with rollers cooperating with said second cam means to face said suckers in the direction of a top sheet of a stack of sheets for a predetermined constant distance, said predetermined constant distance corresponding to the range of said cycloid curved cam surface portions, whereby the top sheet of the stacked sheets is sucked by the sucker for a predetermined period to separate the top sheet from the stacked sheets and to forward it to the printing machine.

2. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cam surface portions are disposed on the inner periphery of said first cam means.

3. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an air chamber is provided in said housing, said follower dividing said chamber into a first and second air chamber portions, said follower including first and second end portions which slidingly engage said cam surface portions to hermetically seal said first air chamber portion from said second air chamber during rotation of said follower.

4. An apparatus according to claim3, wherein said first cam means includes. a plate member fixedly mounted in said housing, said plate member being provided with a cutout portion defining said plurality of cam surface portions and wherein said air chamber includes a pair of disc members mounted on said auxiliary shaft and disposed on respective sides of said follower and said plate member.

5. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein means are provided for operatively connecting said suction means with said means for driving said suckers whereby said suction means is operated in accordance with the position of said. suckers.

6. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said follower includes first and second end portions, said means for connecting said follower with said suckers including an additional shaft disposed at said first and second end portion, said suckers being rotatably mounted on each of said shafts, and means operatively connected with said suckers for normally urging the same in the direction of the top sheet of the stacked sheets.

7. An automatic paper feeding apparatus for use in a printing machine, comprising: a housing, a main shaft disposed in said housing, an auxiliary shaft disposed in said housing operatively connected with said main shaft, a means for driving said main shaft, a plurality of suckers operatively connected with said main shaft disposed equidistant from said auxiliary shaft and at a predetermined distance from each other, suction means connected with a respective sucker for sucking air therefrom, means for driving said suckers including a first cam means fixedly mounted in said housing concentric to said main shaft, said first cam means including a plurality of cam surface portions each of which approximates a cycloid curve, a. follower rotatably mounted on said auxiliary shaft and cooperating with said cam surface portions, means for eccentrically securing said follower on said main shaft, said follower being revolved around said main shaft while rotating around said auxiliary shaft in one direction under the guidance of said approximately cycloid curved cam surface portions to cause a cycloid movement of said follower, means for operatively connecting said follower with said suckers, a second cam means for guiding the movement of said suckers, each of said suckers being provided with rollers cooperating with said second cam means to face said suckers in the direction of a top sheet of a stack of sheets for a predetermined constant distance, said predetermined constant distance corresponding to the range of said cycloid curved cam surface portions, and blowing means for blowing air under the paper sucked by said suckers to promote the operation of said suckers, whereby the top sheet of the stacked sheets is sucked by the sucker for a predetermined period to separate the top sheet from the stacked sheets and to forward it to the printing machine.

8. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 7, wherein means are provided for operatively connecting said blowing means with said means for driving said suckers, whereby said blowing means is operated in accordance with the position of said suckers.

9. An automatic paper feeding apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said blowing means includes a blow pipe, a blow pipe holder pivotally connected to said housing, and wherein said means for operatively connecting said blowing means with said means for driving said suckers includes an additional cam means mounted on said main shaft and a lever means operatively connected with said pipe holder and cooperating with said cam to cause said blow pipe to be moved toward and away from the stacked sheets. 

1. An automatic paper feeding apparatus for use in a printing machine, comprising: a housing, a main shaft disposed in said housing, an auxiliary shaft disposed in said housing operatively connected to said main shaft, a means for driving said main shaft, a plurality of suckers operatively connected to said main shaft disposed equidistantly from said auxiliary shaft and at a predetermined distance from each other, suction means connected with a respective sucker for sucking air therefrom, and means for driving said suckers including a first cam means fixedly mounted in said housing concentric to said main shaft, said first cam including a plurality of cam surface portions each of which approximates a cycloid curve, a follower rotatably mounted on said auxiliary shaft and cooperating with said cam surface portions, means for eccentrically securing said follower on said main shaft, said follower being revolved around said main shaft while rotating around said auxiliary shaft in one direction under the guidance of said approximately cycloid curved cam surface portions to cause a cycloid movement of said follower, means for operatively connecting said follower with said suckers, a second cam means for guiding the movement of said suckers, each of said suckers being provided with rollers cooperating with said second cam means to face said suckers in the direction of a top sheet of a stack of sheets for a predetermined constant distance, said predetermined constant distance corresponding to the range of said cycloid curved cam surface portions, whereby the top sheet of the stacked sheets is sucked by the sucker for a predetermined period to separate the top sheet from the stacked sheets and to forward it to the printing machine.
 2. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cam surface portions are disposed on the inner periphery of said first cam means.
 3. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an air chamber is provided in said housing, said follower dividing said chamber into a first and second air chamber portions, said follower including first and second end portions which slidingly engage said cam surface portions to hermetically seal said first air chamber portion from said second air chamber during rotation of said follower.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said first cam means includes a plate member fixedly mounted in said housing, said plate member being provided with a cutout portion defining said plurality of cam surface portions and wherein said air chamber includes a pair of disc members mounted on said auxiliary shaft and disposed on respective sides of said follower and said plate member.
 5. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein means are provided for operatively connecting said suction means with said means for driving said suckers whereby said suction means is operated in accordance with the position of said suckers.
 6. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said follower includes first and second end portions, said means for connecting said follower with said suckers including an additional shaft disposed at said first and second end portion, said suckers being rotatably mounted on each of said shafts, and means operatively connected with said suckers for normally urging the same in the direction of the top sheet of the stacked sheets.
 7. An automatic paper feeding apparatus for use in a printIng machine, comprising: a housing, a main shaft disposed in said housing, an auxiliary shaft disposed in said housing operatively connected with said main shaft, a means for driving said main shaft, a plurality of suckers operatively connected with said main shaft disposed equidistant from said auxiliary shaft and at a predetermined distance from each other, suction means connected with a respective sucker for sucking air therefrom, means for driving said suckers including a first cam means fixedly mounted in said housing concentric to said main shaft, said first cam means including a plurality of cam surface portions each of which approximates a cycloid curve, a follower rotatably mounted on said auxiliary shaft and cooperating with said cam surface portions, means for eccentrically securing said follower on said main shaft, said follower being revolved around said main shaft while rotating around said auxiliary shaft in one direction under the guidance of said approximately cycloid curved cam surface portions to cause a cycloid movement of said follower, means for operatively connecting said follower with said suckers, a second cam means for guiding the movement of said suckers, each of said suckers being provided with rollers cooperating with said second cam means to face said suckers in the direction of a top sheet of a stack of sheets for a predetermined constant distance, said predetermined constant distance corresponding to the range of said cycloid curved cam surface portions, and blowing means for blowing air under the paper sucked by said suckers to promote the operation of said suckers, whereby the top sheet of the stacked sheets is sucked by the sucker for a predetermined period to separate the top sheet from the stacked sheets and to forward it to the printing machine.
 8. A paper feeding apparatus according to claim 7, wherein means are provided for operatively connecting said blowing means with said means for driving said suckers, whereby said blowing means is operated in accordance with the position of said suckers.
 9. An automatic paper feeding apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said blowing means includes a blow pipe, a blow pipe holder pivotally connected to said housing, and wherein said means for operatively connecting said blowing means with said means for driving said suckers includes an additional cam means mounted on said main shaft and a lever means operatively connected with said pipe holder and cooperating with said cam to cause said blow pipe to be moved toward and away from the stacked sheets. 